Nurses' Protests Continue Despite President Pezeshkian's Promises to Address Demands

The protests and strikes by nurses, which began nearly a month ago, continue despite promises from Masoud Pezeshkian, the President of Iran, to pay their demands from the National Development Fund. Nurses in Behbahan, Khuzestan province, gathered in front of the city's governorate on Sunday, September 11, as part of a new wave of protests. Videos released show slogans such as 'Nurses die, but do not accept humiliation,' 'We fought with Corona, received no support,' and 'Nurse, shout out, demand your rights' being chanted. This comes just hours after Masoud Pezeshkian announced in his first live television interview on Saturday evening, September 10, that 'we are solving the problems of educators, nurses, pharmacists, and farmers.' He further stated that they received permission from Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, to withdraw some funds from the National Development Fund to settle some debts. Khamenei agreed to temporarily reduce the 20% share of the National Development Fund from the country's oil and gas sales revenue. According to a parliamentary resolution in the first part of the 2024 budget bill, the share of the National Development Fund from oil and gas revenues was set at 40%, which has now been halved with Khamenei's approval. However, Pezeshkian did not clarify how much of this amount would be used to pay the nurses' demands. The Minister of Health, Treatment, and Medical Education stated a week prior that the government owes nurses 7,500 billion tomans. Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi mentioned that the total demands of the nurses amount to approximately 7.5 trillion tomans, and it has been approved that all their rights and demands will be paid as soon as possible. The new wave of nurses' protests began on July 13 with strikes by nurses in Shiraz hospitals and spread to other cities. Nurses are protesting both the neglect of their demands and the harsh working conditions, including 'mandatory overtime with very low wages, exhausting work accompanied by insults and threats' in the workplace. The scope of these protests reached Tehran, the capital, on Wednesday, August 31, where a group of Tehran nurses gathered in front of the Ministry of Health, Treatment, and Medical Education building. The Coordination Council of Nurses' Protests reported that Zahra Tamaddon, head nurse of ward 10 at Masih Daneshvari Hospital in Tehran, along with some nurses from this hospital, was arrested by security forces on Tuesday, August 30, due to protests against harsh working conditions.